Swanson Transfers Springfield Workers
As of late July, Swanson Group had not decided whether to rebuild its plywood mill that was destroyed by fire on the afternoon of July 17, 2014 at Springfield, Ore.
CEO Steve Swanson said up to 100 employees from the Springfield plywood mill will transfer to one of the company’s other three plants—sawmills at Roseburg and Glendale, Ore. and a plywood mill at Glendale.
“We are very fortunate that all of our employees avoided injury,” Swanson said. “That hasn’t always been the case in catastrophes of this magnitude.”
Discussions with insurance agents and advisors are ongoing with regard to the rebuilding options. Rebuilding the mill would be at least a two-year project.
Cause of the blaze still hasn’t been officially announced.
About 100 firefighters from seven agencies were dispatched to fight the fire. The complex reportedly included 200,000 square feet of buildings.
Swanson Group purchased the Springfield site from McKenzie Forest Products in 2007 and proceeded to perform major capital upgrades to log merchandising, dryer rebuilds, lathe modernization and a new layup line. The mill ran four multi-opening presses and two MDO/HDO presses. It had more than doubled production capacity since Swanson took over. Georgia-Pacific built the mill in 1960.
Swanson Group dates back to 1951 when brothers Dean and Rod Swanson purchased a sawmill in Glendale and operated it as Superior Lumber. Their father and an uncle had earlier operated a sawmill near Eugene.
Latest News
India’s Greenpanel Grows With MDF
India’s largest MDF manufacturer, Greenpanel Industries Ltd., has ordered its third MDF plant from Dieffenbacher. The new thin-board line based on Dieffenbacher’s smart plant concept, CEBRO, will be added in Routhusuramala, Andhra Pradesh. That’s the same site where Greenpanel commissioned a Dieffenbacher MDF line with a 56 m long CPS, the longest continuous press in…
Kronospan Announces Further Expansion At Alabama Site
Kronospan will begin construction of a new OSB manufacturing plant on its 460 acre site in Oxford, Ala. The new facility, employing 125, will have a footprint composed of 44 acres of new development, including substantial areas designated for product storage, rail spur and loading docks. Groundbreaking for the $350 million facility is scheduled for later this year…
Dates Announced For Ninth PELICE
The next Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) will be held March 14-15, 2024, again at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. PELICE is hosted every other year by Panel World magazine and Georgia Research Institute. This will be the ninth PELICE since its inception 2008…
Panel World Gears Up To Exhibit At Ligna
Panel World magazine and its affiliates will be exhibiting at the upcoming international wood products fair, Ligna, to be held May 15-19 in Hannover, Germany. In addition to Panel World, the Hatton-Brown organization, which dates back to 1948 in Montgomery, Ala., today publishes five business magazines geared to the wood products industry…
LP To Acquire Ontario OSB Facility
LP Building Solutions (LP) and Forex Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement for LP to acquire the assets owned by Wawa OSB Inc., a subsidiary of Forex Inc. The manufacturing facility in Wawa, Ontario will be converted into an LP SmartSide trim and siding mill. The transaction, which is subject to court approval and customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in early May 2023…
Find Us On Social
Newsletter
The monthly Panel World Industry Newsletter reaches over 3,000 who represent primary panel production operations.
Subscribe/Renew
Panel World is delivered six times per year to North American and international professionals, who represent primary panel production operations. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative. Contact us today!